(Completed) Athenian Hoplite

Managed to complete this kit over the weekend.

This will be my 2nd freehand attempt. The motif on the shield took the better half of the afternoon. After 3 attempts of doodling on the shield with a soft pencil, i managed to sketch out the design I found on the Internet.

There on it was just filling in the colors. 

The groundwork was quick as the figure came with a nicely done up resin base with rocks and a fallen log. All i needed to do was to add in the shrubs and ground litter. A reddish shrub was thrown in to give the groundwork some height and "bridge" the colors between the figure and the groundwork.

This would be my first completed 75mm kit. Enjoyed the process thoroughly as the size allowed me to quickly move onto another part of the figure. Also the genre was refreshing and different from the modern military figures i paint.

I have a few 75mm kits lying in wait, and intend to work on this scale more often :)

(WIP 1) Athenian Hoplite

Decided to explore a smaller scale to challenge myself. Started of with a 75mm resin kit from Historia Miniatures (Greece). The subject is a Athenian Hoplite from ancient Greece.

[Extract from Wikipedia] Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Their main tactic was the phalanx formation. The hoplites were primarily free citizens—propertied farmers and artisans—who were able to afford the bronze armor suit and weapons. Hoplites generally received basic military training.

(WIP 3) RAF Fighter Pilot "The Few" Battle of Britain 1940

Vest about done. Starting on the puppy :)

(WIP 2) RAF Fighter Pilot "The Few" Battle of Britain 1940

I found blue to be a difficult color to work with. Had to rework it a couple of times and finally settled on this. Reds, Purples, Greens and Orange were added to give the uniform some variation :)

(WIP 1) RAF Fighter Pilot "The Few" Battle of Britain 1940

Took the plunge and went on the render the face of this youthful RAF pilot from Life Miniatures.

Instead of using the Jo Sonja colors I am familiar with, i took the opportunity to try some colors from the Vallejo Panzer Aces range. I observed that Vallejo colors tend to have a slight sheen when dry as opposed to Jo Sonja colors drying very matt.

I felt it was a nice effect to bring the face to life. Will experiment more :)

M Con III 2015

I recently took part in M Con III organised by M Workshop and is the only local scale modelling competition here in Singapore.

This year I submitted 4 entries The standard was much higher this year as well as the larger number of entries in the figure category. While not expecting any placing, I was pleased that my entries were conferred the following classification.

Bronze with Merit
1. RAF Bomber Command, WW2 (More pics)

Highly Commended
2. Italian Horseman, Compagnia San Giorgio, 14th Century
3. Red Army Infantry, Prayer, Kursk 1943 (More pics)
4. German 6th Army, Stalingrad 1942 (More pics)

(WIP 1) Gaul Chieftain, 1st Century BC

Keeping to the medieval theme, I am going further back into history with the 75 mm Gaul Chieftain , 1st Century BC by Pegaso Models.

Departing from the resin kits I tend to work with, white metal models possess their own charm. Albeit requiring more effort to prepare the model for painting. Having pinned some of the parts in place, I proceeded to prime with Grey primer. Only to find an almost exhausted can of primer...hence the photo had unprimed parts.

The weekend was spent rendering the main torso of the figure along with the groundwork. The beauty of smaller scales allow a much faster turnaround. Taking reference from the box art, I adopted a similar earthly color scheme to render the tunic and pants.